Batting game



Dec. 2, 19 58 J. DELIA EI'AL BATTING GAME Filed 001:. 24, 1955 INVENTORS JAMES DEL/A By moms c. 50/ NO Ox WW W 78 ATTORNEYS BATTING GAME James Delia, Saratoga, and Thomas C. Boitano', Santa Clara, Calif.

Application October 24, 1955, Serial'No. 542,299"

1 Claim; (Cl. 273-26) Thisiinvention relates to a game apparatus of the type.

facilitating battingpractice'.

The apparatus herein is especially designed to providebatting practice for youngsters prior to that age at which they are able to hit a pitched baseball. Itis also useful as an amusement device for such children as well as older boys, girls and even men and women for demonstrafing their efliciency and skill. in the art of hitting a baseball with a bat. In this connectionxthe apparatus employs a tethered ball. facilitating retrieving the. ball after it has been hit.

While devices of this character arenot generally new in the art it is an object of this invention to provide a novel scoring media by which the distance of the hits can be ascertained and/or distinguished from one another. Moreover, this scoring media also contemplates an evaluation of each hit such as one, two or three base and home run, or establishes put-outs, foul balls and the like so as to simulate a regulation baseball game. Thus the present invention provides a stimulant for players through competitive scoring. This competitive scoring is equally stimulating for one player as well as several players and induces practice by reason of the expectancy and accomplishments to be attained.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide in a tethered ball batting practice device a scoring or evaluating media in combination with the tethering cord employed.

Another object is to provide a U-shaped guide memher for the tether cord facilitating untrammelled running of the cord during each trajectory of the ball secured to the end thereof.

It is yet another object to provide a batting practice tee which is yieldable if struck by the bat.

A further object is to provide a tethered ball with a cord having segmental designations of evaluated scores cooperative with a guide member for indicating the value of each hit.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from a reading of the following description in the light of the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a batting practice apparatus embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the device of Fig. l with parts thereof broken away and shown in section for purposes of illustration.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation similar to that of Fig. 2 but at smaller scale to illustrate all components of the apparatus in the course of play or use.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the baseball and tether cord of Figs. 1 to 3 embodying the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a diagram at reduced scale showing the tether cord fully extended from the base to delineate segmental designations of scoring along the length of the cord.

Referring to Fig. 1 the device of the present invention comprises in general a base 11 having a post or standard 12 supported thereon provided at its upper end with a ball seat or tee 13. A bat 14 is also provided asis a ball. 15:together with a cord 16 having one of its ends anchored in or otherwise suitably secured. to the ball 15-for tethering the-same.

The base 11 which simulates home plate may be any heavy pedestal which will serve to'hold the standard 12' in a fixed position. embedded into earth and provided with a flat upper surface. tion of cold rolled channel having its web 17" providing a flat upper surface and its flanges 17" providing legsfor such web or flat upper surface.

The standard 12 comprises an upright post: for supporting the ball 15 at approximate waist height of the player who is toswing the bat 14 in striking the ball In this connection it will be appreciated thatan in=- correctswing of the bat is likely to cause the latter to strike the standard 12. If'the standard .12 were rigidly erect relative to the base 11'this couldr'be injurious to the player; cause the bat to be marred, split or broken,

and might evenbend' the standard. In accordance'with.

the present invention the standard 12 is mounted? for: swinging: movement relative to the base 11 in the direction in which the bat is intended to be swung. More'- over, thestandard itself is partially constructed of a:semirigid: material which will' yieldor bend under impact and? which will thereafter return to its normal or erect position.

As best seen in Figs. 1 and 2 the standard 12 is pivotally mounted as at 18 upon the upper surface 17 of the base 11. For this reason a pair of ears 19-19 are either welded to the base 11 or struck up from the web 17 of the channel. The ears 1919' are spaced transversely of the channel and have a igned bores for receiving a bolt 20. The lower end of the standard 12 consists of a metal bar 21 having at one of its ends a boss 22 with flattened sides spaced to fit between the ears 19-19 so that the bolt 20 extends through the bore in the boss 21.

The upper portion of the standard 12 consists of a section of hose 23 of semi-rigid construction which is yieldable yet resilient so as to return to its normal erect position. For this reason the hose 23 is preferably a strongly reinforced section of either plastic or rubber hose such as is commonly employed for high pressure lines.

As depicted in Figs. 1 and 2 the section of hose 23 is slidably arranged upon the metal bar 21 so as to be adjustable relative thereto. The metal bar 21 is only about two thirds the length of the section of hose 23 so that at least the upper third of the latter is always pliable for reasons already explained. Means for securing the hose section 23 to the metal bar 21 may be, for example a hose clamp 24 circumscribing the lower end of the hose 23 and adapted to clampingly press the latter against the metal bar 21. The clamp 24 includes a wing nut 25 facilitating hand operation to release or tighten the clamp 24. Thus it will be appreciated that the hose section 23 can be slid up and/or down relative to the rod 21 and secured at various heights at the option of each player for raising and/ or lowering the upper end of the standard 12 including the ball supporting tee 13.

The tee 13 consists of a rubber dish-like head 26 having a shank portion 27 on its underside dimensioned to fit into the open upper end of the hose section 23. The shank 27 is cemented to the hose 23. The dishlike head 26 of tee 13 is concave to receive the ball 15 and to maintain the latter in fixed position upon the upper end of the standard 12.

The ball 15 as previously explained is tethered by connection to the cord 16. The cord 16 is a fairly strong woven cotton strand approximately forty feet in length.

'Patented'Dec. 2, 1958 It may be' a spike adapted tobe In the present disclosure the base '11 is a sec-.

This type of cord has been found least susceptible to tangling and will pay out uniformly responsive to the flight of the ball tethered thereto.

As shown in the drawing the cord 16 extends through a U-shaped guide member 30 provided on the fore edge of the base 11. The free end of the cord 16 is preferably tied to the base 11 below and rearwardly of the guide member 30. Thus it will be seen that the cord extends upwardly through the guide member 30 and must necessarily pay out through the same following flight of the ball 15. Consequently, after the ball 15 is driven from the standard 12 by the batter the cord 16 will extend away from the base 11 and overlie the bight of the guide member 30. In this manner the bight of the guide member 30 becomes an indicator point relative to the cord 16 so that a reading may be taken along the cord.

.As best illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 the cord 16 is divided into segments preferably distinguished from each other by a difference in color. This is best delineated in Fig. 5 wherein the cord is shown fully extended from the guide member 30. In this condition that portion of the cord overlying the guide member 30 indicates a home run. Other and differently colored segments of the cord indicate triple, double, single, bunt or sacrifice hit and foul ball. Between each of these colored segments a space or span of white or uncolored cord is left to indicate outs.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that We have devised a novel batting game. While this game has been described in specific detail it will be understood that it may be varied, altered, and/or modified without departing from the spirit of our invention. We therefore desire to avail ourselves of all modifications, alterations and/or variations as fairly come within the purview of the appended claim. What we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent 1s:

A batting practice device of the type including a ball adapted to be hit by a bat, the combination therewith of a base, a standard extending upwardly from said base, a flexible ball retaining seat at the upper end of said standard, and means for evaluating the flight of the ball when struck from said seat comprising a U-s-haped guide member extending from said base, a non-tangling tether cord adapted to have one end thereof loosely coiled alongside said base and its opposite end strung up through said U-shaped guide member and secured to said ball, and segmental markings along the length of said cord registerable with the bight of said U-shaped guide member for designating the value of each flight of the ball from said standard.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,507,904 Aston Sept. 9, 1924 1,746,600 Merlo Feb. 11, 1930 1,963,311 Olsen June 19, 1934 1,982,304 Holden Nov. 27, 1934 2,057,894 Harvey Oct. 20, 1936 

